THE European Union must change or Germany will walk out of the bloc, members of far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party said.

The EU’s “centralism” could cost the bloc one of its most important members if the AfD, Germany’s biggest opposition party, gain enough traction within the country to raise the question of “Gexit”, the German version of Brexit. Party members have gathered at the Erdgas Arena in Riesa, a city in the western state of Saxony. The party congress is focused on the campaign programme to decide ahead of the upcoming European election in May 2019.

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Germany's AfD warned the EU to change or face a German exit (Image: GETTY)

EU voters will elect MEPs in May 2019 (Image: GETTY)

Mr Zimniok, who plans to deal with foreign and defence policy in the European Parliament if elected, is a stark opponent of Emmanuel Macron’s European Army, as it would take away from Governments “the control of our army, the last resort of foreign policy.”

One of the reforms the AfD is calling for is a radical downsizing of the European Parliament, which the far-right politicians believe should be slashed from 750 to 100.

The delegates also want MEPs to be chosen by national Parliaments rather than elected by their citizens.

The AfD gained 7.1 percent of the national vote at the 2014 European elections (Image: GETTY)

Changes desired by the AfD also include a smaller power held by the European Court of Justice, the return of the Deutsch Mark, to be used alongside the Euro, and a review of the free movement of people across European borders.

The AfD, a nationalist party founded in 2013, gained 7.1percentof the national vote at the 2014 European elections, and currently holds seven seats in Brussels.